The Viking & The Ninja - upcoming Mega Drive co-op action-RPG

[matteus]

As long as the HUD retraction animation is done in 16px steps (the minimum horizontal granurality for the window plane) it should be doable... though at 64px wide that only gives 4 frames. May or may not be enough.

I suppose the viewport itself will need to scroll to compensate (to keep centered things actually centered). I suppose if needed the above could be hidden by animating the window slide at 30FPS but the viewport scroll at 60FPS, the latter helping hide the limitation of the former (and getting 8 frames to do the animation).

Or worst case, just use a column worth of sprites for the 8px steps :P

May be don't animate it and just have it appear when you press start or something? Depends if it's on a scroll plane or not I guess I'd be inclined to show / hide without animation on the sub plane of A*.

* note there's a little more to it than I'm suggesting

[Sik]

"Sub plane of A"? Do you mean the window plane? >.>;

[Flygon]

Heck, you beat me too it.

I was thinking that the whole time reading this thread, "Isn't this the reason the Window Plane was made?".

However, I'm not totally privy as to how it actually works.

[Hades]

This looks great, and sounds like a type of game that is under represented! I've watched all these awesome looking new games come out for the MD over the last few years, and have been shattered I haven't been in a position to be able to purchase them! If this is still at least two years away I'll hopefully be able to purchase once available!
Good luck!

[108 Stars]

But that window would not be something that can slowly scroll into the screen, right? I mean, it would still be functional, but not so elegant. Then again scrolling by steps of 16px would not be smooth either, so a HUD just popping up might actually look better.

[matteus]

"Sub plane of A"? Do you mean the window plane? >.>;

Yup which I refer to as the sub

[matteus]

But that window would not be something that can slowly scroll into the screen, right? I mean, it would still be functional, but not so elegant. Then again scrolling by steps of 16px would not be smooth either, so a HUD just popping up might actually look better.

You can't scroll the window plane Only planes A and B.

[EPSYLON EAGLE]

It's really necessary to display the HUD information fulltime?

Look at the HUD for games like Secret of Mana and Ganpuru Gunman and everything is shown in a simple and compact way.

[Black_Tiger]

The hud scrolling in looks cool and the idea of it being turned off and on would be nice in a turn based RPG. But a realtime game needs a consistent screen space. Otherwise enemies behind the hud would be attacking you and it would be problematic in designing boss battles.

One solution is a clear window like Legend of Xanadu:

http://www.thebrothersduomazov.com/2...anadu.html?m=1

[Zebbe]

Hades: Thank you . Yeah, the Mega Drive scene started to boom the last 2-3 years. I hope I can make the game affordable when it comes out, of course it depends on the publisher if I can get one :P.

EPSYLON EAGLE: I discussed the HUD with Kamahl, he thought this option would be the best. A Secret of Mana approach would require sprites, which may cause clutter in the play field and also decrease the amount you can have on screen for gameplay.

Black_Tiger: Man, Legend of Xanadu looks gorgeous! :O The HUD is also nice, clear to see but not interfered by the background too much. Not sure it would fit my this type of game though.

[Black_Tiger]

I think that Twinkle Tale proves how well a permanent opaque hud can work.

[Zebbe]

Yes, it looks very stylish and surprisingly clean. I'll see if I can fit something like it into the VRAM, there are lots of other things which need to be there as well :P.

[Vludi]

Vludi: Thanks! Yeah, there will be lots of action . The RPG part is the leveling, story telling and maybe some puzzles here and there. Any specific games you had in mind?

I was thinking of Shock Troopers, Nitro ball, Mercs (included MD original), Granada, Pocky & Rocky, Twinkle tale. Not saying it should be full arcade but some mechanics like, contact-melee, roll/dash, fun powerups or meaty sub-weapons could add a bit to the gameplay, good stage reference too

[Zebbe]

Cool, thanks for the tips, Vludi! I have played a few of them, the others I'll check them out!

[Zygrunt]

Such a nice game idea, and looking good already! Looking forward to it. Good luck!